


Steady Now

by bi_swan_trash



Category: Warehouse 13
Genre: Childhood Friends, Gen, trans steve jinks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-02 00:09:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17877410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bi_swan_trash/pseuds/bi_swan_trash
Summary: Steve has something to tell his best friend... but his best friend has something to say, too.





	Steady Now

**Author's Note:**

> For awhile now I've been conversing with anons on my main tumblr (halfblood-divergent-demigod) about Steve Jinks being trans. I fully love and support the headcanon so I wanted to post this work here.

They’d met in middle school at basketball tryouts. Briarcliff Middle School believed in co-ed sports as a show of sportsmanship. From the first day they’d been inseparable. They worked the court beautifully in tandem-- as if they could sense what the other was about to do.

That’s why Steve was so nervous about tonight. Tonight was the night he was about to tell his best friend of four year that he was going to start transitioning to be the man he knew he was.

A few months ago, he’d cut his long hair off in a rage. Olivia found him bawling his eyes out, a pair of scissors in hand, and chunks of hair scattered around him as he sat in front of his mirror.

Being the understanding older sister she was, she took the scissors and asked him to explain what was wrong. After he told her the truth she went to the store, bought a pair of hair clippers, and helped him buzz practically all of his hair off. They’d gone to their mom together.

She was surprised, too, but supportive.

Since that day, he and Olivia talked about name choices, while the three of them discussed social transitioning, whether he wanted to do it, and how they could help.

They’d been seriously planning for about a week now. Emma contacted the school and other adults who needed to know that her son’s name was Steve and that he used he/him pronouns.

Steve had insisted that he told Darren first of his peers, but he was still extremely nervous.

_ “It’ll be fine, Steve,” Olivia reassured him. “Darren will understand.” _

_ “But what if he doesn’t?” Steve asked, tears gathering in his eyes. _

_ “Then he’s not worth your time. But I think he’ll be cool. He may even know.” _

_ “Why?” _

_ Olivia smiled. “Because, you two know everything about each other.” _

Steve texted Darren that he was on his way as he left his house and made the ten-block walk to the other teen’s house.

“What’s up!” Darren greeted from the driveway. He was already holding a basketball, getting ready for their usual one-on-one when they started hanging out.

“Hey, man,” Steve greeted.

They fist bumped and Darren passed Steve the ball.

“So you called this meeting, girl. Sounded serious,” Darren said.

Steve winced, dribbling the ball a bit to distract himself from the comment, and Darren from his reaction. It didn’t work.

“Did I say something?”

Aim. Shoot. Swish.

“I do have something serious to tell you. I just don’t know how,” Steve admitted.

“Viv, we’re tight. You can tell me anything,” Darren said, catching the ball as it bounced back toward them.

Steve scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. “I uh… I go by Steven now, actually. Steve for short.”

There was silence as Darren just stared. Steve, being uncomfortable with the silence between them, chattered on, pacing as he did so.

“I don’t know, man. A few months ago I just broke. I’ve been feeling so weird and bad inside myself lately like my body is too tight all the time. Every time someone would say my name or used “Ms.” or “she” for me I thought I was gonna pass out, because my heart was beating so fast. My lie detector was constantly going off as I responded to people. I couldn’t figure it out. But then I started doing some digging and… I’m transgender.”

“Oh my god,” Darren said, tears filling his eyes.

“Darren! Don’t cry. I-”

“I thought it was just me,” Darren whispered.

It was Steve’s turn to stare.

“You wanna go inside?”

***

One they were settled in Darren’s room with the door closed they sat in silence for a few minutes.

“How’d you choose ‘Steve’?” Darren asked.

“My sister, actually,” Steve said. “D… uh… do you still go by ‘Darren’?”

Darren shrugged. “I don’t have a choice. My mom will never understand.”

One of the reasons they’d bonded so closely is because they were both being raised by single moms. They understood things about each other’s households that no one else could.

“You could be surprised,” Steve said. “My mom was really cool about it.”

“Our moms are pretty different.”

Steve had to agree with that. Mrs. Johnson was pretty strict in comparison to his mom.

“Okay, but… do you wanna go by ‘Darren’ or do you have another name you’ve picked out?” Steve asked.

“Glad you asked, Steven,” Darren said, digging out a worn notebook Steve had seen his friend carrying around for a few years. “My idea journal. Mostly full of my research into being trans.”

“You’ve been carrying that around for two years!”

Darren gave him a sad smile. “I’ve kinda known for two years.” Darren handed the journal to Steve. “Open it.”

Doing as instructed, Steve opened the journal to find pages and pages of self reflection, research, and names. As he flipped, he noticed two names that continued to stand out until he reached the final page written on and found a first and middle name circled.

“Opal Kimani,” Steve said.

His friend smiled like Steve had just cured everything bad in the world.

“‘Opal’ because it means ‘a change of color’. I’m not changing  _ that _ obviously, but… I am changing. And ‘Kimani’ because it means ‘beautiful’ and the name runs in my mom’s family.”

“That’s amazing… Opal,” Steve emphasized.

“You got a middle name, Steve?” Opal asked.

Steve shook his head. “All the research I did has me psyched out to choose a middle name. I feel like it should have something to do with a strong male role model in my life. And… well… as you know, I don’t have that.”

“Yeah, I get that.”

“Thanks for showing me your journal. That took guts,” Steve said.

“I knew you wouldn’t judge.”

“Never,” Steve said before frowning.

“What?” Opal asked.

“I don’t want to have to call you your birth name anymore,” Steve said. “It just feels wrong that I get to be called ‘Steve,’ but you don’t get to be called ‘Opal.’”

Opal shrugged. “Maybe one day.”

Steve hugged his best friend. “I promise to always call you by your real name when we’re alone together.”

Opal smiled and hugged Steve back even tighter.

“You’re the best, man.”


End file.
